Family Research Council head blames Southern Poverty Law Center

Family Research Council president Tony Perkins on Thursday said the shooting at the conservative Christian organization’s Washington, D.C., headquarters was an act of terrorism and he accused the Southern Poverty Law Center of fostering the climate that allowed the crime to occur.

Fox News’s Megyn Kelly asked Perkins whether he thought the Wednesday shooting of an unarmed security guard for the group “was an act of domestic terrorism.”

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“Terrorism is designed to intimidate and to drive people back and make them feel fearful. Well, that I believe would describe what they tried to do here yesterday at the Family Research Council and by extension to traditional value supporters, Christians across the nation,” Perkins said. “But I want to tell you it’s not going to work. We’re not going anywhere. We’re more committed today than we were yesterday to defending and advancing faith, family and freedom here in our nation’s capital.”

The gunman suspected of shooting the guard and shouting a political statement was charged with assault with intent to kill on Thursday, according to reports. Floyd Lee Corkins II, 28, of Virginia told the building manager, Leo Johnson, “I don’t like your politics,” and then shot him in the arm on Wednesday morning, The Associated Press reported. Johnson then unarmed Corkins and the suspected shooter was taken into custody.

In Corkins’s backpack, investigators found ammunition and 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches, the AP said.

Perkins — who called Johnson’s actions “heroic” and said the building manager is “doing well” — said Corkins’s intentions “were clearly evil and to do massive damage” at the FRC.

The FRC head noted that while he holds Corkins solely responsible for the shooting, he believes the Southern Poverty Law Center must also be held accountable for its “reckless” labeling of the FRC as a hate group.

“Corkins was responsible for the wounding of one our colleagues and one of my friends yesterday here at the Family Research Council, but I believe he was given a license by a group such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, who, as you pointed out earlier, labeled us a hate group because we defend the family and we stand for traditional, orthodox Christianity,” Perkins said.

FRC has taken great pains to distance itself from every whack job who has followed FRC's rhetoric and committed an act of violence. Now Tony Perkins has the gall to pin blame for this shooting on SPLC? Really? Shameless.

Nothing has changed the fact that FRC is a hate group. SPLC has done nothing wrong. While FRC and the other ultra-conservation groups continue to spew hate and unabashedly call their flock to arms I cannot think of a single leader or organized interest on the left side of the aisle that has done the same. Certainly not SPLC.

While I have empathy for the security guard quite frankly this whole think smells staged - from the "I don't like your politics" quote to the bag stuffed full of Chick Fil A.

The FRC is one of America's preeminent hate groups. What the maniac shooter did was horrible and should be condemned. But the FRC can't deflect the unpopularity of its hateful agenda on an organization that simply reports the agenda of the FRC and other hate groups to the public. The shooting is tragic, but the FRC STILL REMAINS a horrible hate group that will receive little sympathy.

In the larger scheme of things, what does this have to do with the Southern Poverty group? They are not the only ones that label you a hate group. Your words are vitriolic, so a hate group you are.

On a similar note, how does this differ from the argument about all the doctors and people killed or wounded in women's health clinics by your "pro life" supporters? This just shows the hypocrisy of you and your hate groups.

You label them this guy a terrorist, yet that guy who shot the Sikh's, the one in the neo-nazi punk rock band, is NOT a terrorist. Hell, he might even be a patriot in you mind, but again, this just shows the hypocrisy of your words.

Stop telling us how you are defending your right to whatever. You are in the majority and this hatred is just an excuse to hate what you feel is wrong.

The SPLC is a sleazy as they come. They don't care at all about fighting racism. All they care about is getting contributions to pay their own exorbitant salaries and smearing opponents of the radical leftist political agenda. The list the obvious organizations like the KKK, skin heads, etc., only so they can toss their political opponents in the same bag and smear them.

I assure you Mr Perkins many in our Society are sick of your faith,YOUR concept of a Family,and your idea of what freedom consist of.The shooting was horrific.But your hate and desire to force your delusional belief system down peoples throat that are not even mildly interested is just a horrific.We don't follow Jesus Law in America,we follow constitutional law.You may desire for everyone to live under a 6000 year old fairy tale,but that is not the reality of the situation in America.Worship as you please,believe as you please but keep your drivel away from me and my family.

Just because the Southern Poverty Law Center, with its long history of Left-wing activism, labels an highly respected pro-life, pro-family organization a so-called "hate group", doesn't make it true. Has anyone considered that the beliefs of the Family Research Council which supports the time-honored marriage between one man and one woman are mainstream and normal? The SPLC is guilty of festering hate towards anyone it disgrees with and the SPLC along with gay rights groups should disavow the "hate" rhetoric and labels, and they should offer up an apology to the Family Research Council and especially to the shooting victim who thankfully is recovering from his shooting wounds at the hands of a hate-filled Left-wing ideologue. This is clearly a hate-crime inspired by labeling a group as promoting "hate". The FBI should investigate and the Department of Justice should prosecute this man to the hilt.

If the SPLC was a left-wing organization, they wouldn't have organizations like the Nation of Islam listed as hate groups. Let's face it: there are a few left-wing hate groups, like the NoI, but generally the left tends towards tolerance, and the right-wing tends towards exclusivity. That's not to say that there aren't left-wing bigots, and its certainly not to say that most righties are bigots. They aren't. But the balance is clearly not equal.

The FRC is a hate group because they take a diverse group of mostly law abiding citizens (homosexuals) and call them pedophiles and call for them to be imprisoned. They even supported a bill in Uganda that would have made homosexuality a capital offense. These are acts of hate.

We live in a free country, so the FRC can say whatever they want short of explicitly calling for violence against gays. Which is why we need groups like the SPLC telling the truth about the FRC, and warning people against their message of hate. If the SPLC is responsible for this shooting, then by that logic the FRC is responsible for the murder of Dr. Tiller, the murders and assaults against gays that happen every day in this country, and the many, many other hate crimes perpetrated against gays and other cultural minorities.

Ah, yes, those pesky hate groups. Why is it the left views every group and individual that disagrees with their views as haters, racists, bigots, homophobes, bogeymen, etc...?

Trying to argue with a person's hard core religious beliefs is folly. If you have no religious beliefs, then what do you base your claim to rights on? Your self-centered wants? (Doesn't always work in a society.) The Constitution? (Ha! Anymore, that depends on who is in power - it's truly just a piece of paper nowadays.) God given rights? (Oops, big conflict there for you.) Just some inherent rights bestowed upon you at birth? (Well, that just makes you another species of animal. Welcome to the jungle.)

Anyway, for you folks on the left wringing your hands over all of the intolerance, My sick sense of humor finds me hoping for an incredible burgeoning Muslim population in this country. Yes, so big that they will have their own PAC's and exert their political influence. You know what? Your rights are based on the worth of your vote. When this future Muslim population flexes their muscle you'll experience true intolerance. Go easy on the name calling and protests when it happens. They have this thingy called a fatwa. They don't turn the cheek.

Due to a lack of reading comprehension and desire to deal in truth, progressive websites have for days peddled the lie that Chick-Fil-A supported the Family Research Council's support of legislation which OK'd gay-killing in Uganda. A lie that took all of two seconds to debunk:

The Tony Perkins-led FRC said it did lobby on the bill, but not to kill it – rather to change the language it contained and to remove sweeping and inaccurate assertions that homosexual conduct is internationally recognized as a fundamental human right.

FRC did not lobby against or oppose passage of the congressional resolution. FRC's efforts, at the request of Congressional offices, were limited to seeking changes in the language of proposed drafts of the resolution, in order to make it more factually accurate regarding the content of the Uganda bill.

FRC does not support the Uganda bill, and does not support the death penalty for homosexuality - nor any other penalty which would have the effect of inhibiting compassionate pastoral, psychological, and medical care and treatment for those who experience same-sex attractions or who engage in homosexual conduct. .................... What? So you mean the story about Chick-Fil-A supporting gay-killing is complete and utter hogwash? Of course it is. Do you expect any of the many websites to print retractions? No, you don't. Do you expect homosexual activists to continue to propagate the lie? Of course you do. We all expect that from people engaging in a smear campaign.

Since all of the domestic terrorism that has occurred in the last 40 years has come from the right wing "Christians" I guess Tony boy would have a handle on the definition of domstic terrorism. This guy is pathetic.